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What follows is an interview with one of the speakers--Jeffrey Toobin:

Jeffrey Toobin weighs in on the high court, O.J. Simpson, and why facts still matter

You could say Jeffrey Toobin wrote the book on the O.J. Simpson murder case. Toobin's book, titled
The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson
, was adapted into the Emmy-award winning series,
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,
that aired on FX last year.

Toobin, who is Jewish, is a CNN Senior Analyst, a judicial expert, a staff writer for
The New Yorker
, and a bestselling author. In advance of his visit to Chicago, Toobin sat down for a phone interview with
JUF News
.

JUF News: There has been a resurgence of interest in the O.J. Simpson murder case in recent years. Why is the case still resonating with the public 20-plus years later?

Jeffrey Toobin: The way I viewed the case and the way I wrote my book is largely through the prism of race. What made the case more than just a tawdry celebrity murder was the fact that it illuminated a lot of racial tensions in society, and that was very much reflected in both the FX series and the film documentary. One reason why the story resonated so much last year was that it came in the immediate aftermath of Ferguson and "Black Lives Matter." We as a country [have been] confronting the fraught relationship between African-Americans and the police. The real reason O.J. got acquitted was because his defense effectively put the L.A.P.D. on trial for offenses they committed against others, not--in my opinion--against O.J. Simpson.

With Justice Neil Gorsuch now on the Supreme Court, how soon do you anticipate another justice will exit the bench?

We have three elderly justices--Justice Ginsburg: 84; Anthony Kennedy: 80; and Stephen Breyer: 78. I think that the two Democratic appointees, Ginsburg and Breyer, will be looking to hang on through this presidential term. The big question is what Kennedy will do. If he leaves, I think he'll leave a year from now, not this year.

How do you think President Trump's precarious relationship with media will change the role of journalists?

He has really emboldened journalists to be more direct in their statements. It has been the custom, especially at a place like CNN, that when a politician said something controversial, we would present two sides of the issue…Ultimately, facts matter more than anything anyone says: The economy either will or will not improve, healthcare will or will not be changed, we will or will not go to war. All of that is going to happen independently of journalism. Journalists will cover that, but we won't determine that. The success or failure of his presidency will be determined by facts, rather than by journalism--and that's appropriate.

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